Dominant 7th chord · F# root
F#7 chord
- F#1
- A#3
- C#5
- E♭7
The F# dominant 7th chord (also written Gb7, same notes, different spelling) is built from the notes F#, A#, C#, E. It turns up 4 times in the 80 songs on this site, including Hotel California.
By Chiye · Updated
What is the F#7 chord?
The F#7 chord (F# dominant 7th) is a dominant 7th chord built from four notes: F#, A#, C#, E — the 1–3–5–♭7 of the F# scale, 4 semitones and 7 semitones and 10 semitones above the root. On guitar it is most often played as a movable shape from fret 2 (2-4-2-3-2-2), so the same fingering works at any fret. It is rated intermediate. A tense, bluesy chord that wants to resolve down a fifth. It is one of the most-used chords in this site's library: across the 80 song sheets charted here, F#7 appears 4 times in 1 song, most often in the key of Bm, and the chord it most often moves to is Bm. Below you will find step-by-step fingering, 3 positions up the neck, audio of every shape, and the real progressions this chord lives inside.
How do you play the F#7 chord on guitar?
Fret 2 barre — a movable shape, so this same fingering works for every root note.
- Lay your index finger flat across the low E to high E strings at fret 2, rolled slightly onto its bony edge.
- Press the A string at fret 4 with your ring finger.
- Press the G string at fret 3 with your middle finger.
- Strum all six strings and let every one ring.
Drop the lowest fretted note (low E string) and play the rest as a four- or five-string shape. You lose the bass note but keep every note that gives the chord its name, and there is no barre left to fight. x-4-2-3-2-2
How do you make F#7 sound clean?
F#7 at the 2nd fret is the E7 barre shape; players forget the barre and try to finger every note.
F#7 → Bm: the V7–i of B minor. One shape, three frets.
In real songs
What songs use the F#7 chord?
- chord changes
- 4
- songs
- 1
- common keys
- Bm
Across the 80 chord sheets on this site, F#7 appears 4 times in 1 song — most often in the key of Bm.
Chord flow
What chord comes after F#7?
Those figures are counted from the 80 chord sheets on this site, so they describe what songwriters actually played rather than what theory says should come next.
What other ways can you play F#7 up the neck?
2 more positions below. These are the same notes in a different part of the neck. Choosing the position closest to the chord you just played is what stops your hand jumping between changes.
Position 2 · Fret 4
Every note here is fretted, which means the shape transposes anywhere on the neck without changing your fingers.
At fret 4 the neck is still wide enough to keep your thumb behind it, which gives the fingers more reach than a thumb-over grip.
Position 3 · Fret 9 barre
Because nothing rings open, you can move this whole shape to any fret and it keeps the same quality — only the letter name changes.
A single bar covers the rest of the strings here. If the inside strings stay dead, move the bar a millimetre closer to the fret wire before you try pressing harder.
The theory behind F#7
F#7 is spelled F# – A# – C# – E — the 1 – 3 – 5 – ♭7 of the F# scale, which is the root plus 4 semitones, 7 semitones, 10 semitones. A tense, bluesy chord that wants to resolve down a fifth.
The flat seventh is a whole tone below the octave, and it is the note that creates the pull toward the chord a fifth below F#7. Mute that note by accident and the chord turns into a plain major triad.
What key is the F#7 chord in?
F#7 is the V7 in the key of B — in both B major and B minor — which is exactly why it resolves to B.
the dominant — the flat seventh is what pulls it home
the same dominant job in the minor key
F#7 on other instruments
F# – A# – C# – E — the highlighted black keys are the sharps or flats; play each note once, then move them into one hand position.
Take it to the practice room
